LePage says welfare doesn’t include Social Security, Medicare

Maine personal current transfer receipts

Maine Personal Transfer Receipts

Gov. Paul LePage said this week that “transfer receipts” – a figure tracking payments to individuals, mostly from government programs – are “welfare benefits” and they should be excluded from calculations of personal income. Nearly 60 percent of the category is Social Security and Medicare payments for retirement income and health care that people pay into from their paychecks. Most of the rest of the $12.33 billion Mainers received in the first three months of the year is made up of Medicaid, which is health care coverage for the poor, and a catchall category that includes payments for food stamps, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, railroad pensions, veterans benefits and other programs.

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

* Other includes an array of programs, such as disability payments, worker’s compensation, railroad retirement, income maintenance (such as food stamps (SNAP), the Earned Income Tax Credit, supplemental security, educational and training assistance) and veterans benefits.